Just another WordPress.com weblog

Thor stood on the prow of the ship, face pointed against the spray. Though equipped with sails, James’s ship was quite fast in the water. He had never seen the like, though his people had been using sailboats since time immemorial, it seemed. James was efficient, fast, and preoccupied. Something had gone off on some screen, and he’d been tied up in his quarters ever since, leaving Thor to wander about as he would. He didn’t mind, as such-administration was not his cup of tea. He’d rather feel the wind on his face, a hammer in his hands and his enemies beneath it. Past that, there wasn’t much he cared for. A hot fire at night, and a warm place to sleep. Food enough to meet his appetite. It wasn’t much, but it was what Thor ran on. Simple pleasures, even though the mind behind the hammer was anything but. He was simply content with life. The crew supplied him with enough labor, and enough food. If his bed lurched back and forth, well, he was atop the sea.

James was, of course preoccupied. What Thor had seen and not understood was a massive aether signature, more powerful than even the basilisk that had brought them in towards land from far at sea. Jame had altered tack to meet the creature’s course, but noted with some small delight two other aether signatures that matched Namid’s and semi-conformed to Irian’s. The telemetry data showed that if it was Irian, he had so far srpassed anything else it was practically impossible to predict what he could do. For all James knew, he might could fly. He mentally made a note to ask him if he could, when he saw him.

As James sat at his desk, poring over reports, another set of lights went off, signalling yet another major aether signature. Two, actually, one undeniably Harvest, and one that he couldn’t place. It was on a par with Irian’s though, so whoever it was interested him greatly.

“Fools rush in where angels refuse to tread… but what fool is this, wearing the hame of an angel?”

James silenced the alarm, put the reports back on the desk and stared out at the changeless sea. At least here, now, he could be calm.